Histology

Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy, microanatomy or histoanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures visible without a microscope.

Historically, microscopic anatomy was divided into organology, the study of organs, histology, the study of tissues, and cytology, the study of cells, although modern usage places all of these topics under the field of histology. In medicine, histopathology is the branch of histology that includes the microscopic identification and study of diseased tissue. In the field of paleontology, the term paleohistology refers to the histology of fossil organisms.